


Half a house elf

by Zarhara



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Abduction, Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Attempted Murder, Elf!Stiles (sorta), F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mention of physical punishment, Mild Blood and Gore, Monster of the Week, Mostly Fluff, Temporary alteration of physical appearance, Werewolves, mention of self-harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 11:17:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8443819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zarhara/pseuds/Zarhara
Summary: Stiles doesn’t really remember anything but that house. It was all he’d ever known. It was as constant as the air he breathed, and he needed it just as much. The others, who worked around the house, avoided him. They were older than he was, and wiser as they often said. They always called him ‘half’, though they never explained to him why that was.
Or: Stiles is kidnapped shortly after his mother's death, and forced to work for an old pure blood family. They change his appearence to that of an average house elf to make sure that he is never found. But more importantly they change his magic, creating a certain spark within, the likes of which the wizarding world has never seen before. Good thing too, because he's gonna need it.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :) Um, this story might seem a bit weird, but for some reason it just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. I've always loved the elves, and for some reason their magic reminded me of Stiles' spark, and so this thing sorta kinda happened. Sorry... Unless you like it of course, then yay! :) Anyway, it was really fun to write, and it was a nice distraction from Uni.
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading, and kudos and comments are always welcome :)
> 
> P.S I do not give permission for anyone to share this work on other sides or with third-parties :)

Stiles didn’t really remember anything but that house. It was all he’d ever known. It was as constant as the air he breathed, and he needed it just as much. His magic was bound to this place, and he could not leave it for long. It was painful. However, Stiles had always been smart; A fact that had always infuriated the inhabitants of the house. He refused to call them anything but that, ‘the inhabitants’. At least inside his own mind, where he was privy to the only liberty of his kind. Thought. Whenever he spoke, the word ‘master’ left a sour note on his tongue, no matter how many times he had to utter it. 

The others, who worked around the house, avoided him. They were older than he was, and wiser as they often said. They always called him ‘half’, though they never explained to him why that was. He discovered it himself one night, when he was sneaking around the house. Sneaking around the house at night was strictly forbidden. It was almost as bad as using one of the inhabitants’ things. They had the most wonderful things. Wands that could perform the most amazing magic, clothes in bright colors and soft fabrics, books that detailed the wonder of the world and so much more. That night Stiles broke both of those rules. 

One of the inhabitants, a blonde and particularly cruel wizard, was away for a couple of days. Stiles took the chance and snook into her room. This room in particular had no annoying or gossiping paintings, as the inhabitant and the painting always came to despise each other, one way or the other. Ordinarily, he was forced to walk alongside the edges of a room whenever he was in it, as to appear non-existent. That’s why he immediately ran into the middle of the room, digging his bare feet into the soft carpet.

When he looked up, he was surprised to see himself in the inhabitant’s beloved mirror. Due to his small size, he had never seen himself in a mirror before, as they were always hung too high for him to have a proper glance. Now however, as he was a decent way away from the mirror, it allowed him to see all of himself.

At first, he appeared like any other of the elves working around the house, though he had light brown honey eyes that he hadn’t seen on any of the others. His customary grey elf skin color was slightly lighter, almost white. He had never seen himself before, but the longer he stared at the image the more wrong it felt. It felt wrong in some unexplainable way that he should look like this. Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to a small movement from almost directly behind his mirror image. He quickly spun on his heal, fearing that he had been caught where he was not supposed to be. The room was as empty as when he entered it, and he slowly turned around to face the mirror once more. It seemed as if there were small ripples running through the glass, as if it was made from water. Finally, it allowed another figure to appear in the mirror.

The first thing he noticed was the same honey brown eyes, now located in the face of a very young looking human boy. The boy had brown hair and pale skin dotted with moles. Even though he was still young of age, maybe ten years old, he was almost towering over the elf in the mirror. He looked like a ghost. Like a barely there glimmer, and yet Stiles felt that this was him. The ghost in the mirror. Something so unreal, and yet it was the realest thing that Stiles had felt in a long time.


	2. The Granger Foundation

It was almost five months later when the door to the house was practically thrown off its hinges by a powerful spell. Stiles and the rest of the elves looked at the door in shock.

After that, things got pretty hazy. Strange people invaded the house firing ‘immobulus’ charms left and right, interspersed with the occasional ‘petrificus totalas’ and ‘expelliarmus’. What surprised Stiles the most however, was that the newcomers kept up this non-lethal way of battling, even when the inhabitants of the house started firing back with lethal spells and curses. 

During it all, Stiles hid under a table, trying to stay out of sight. He wasn’t afraid of the newcomers, rather he was avoiding the inhabitants out of fear that they would make him do something horrible. He wasn’t actually sure if his magic allowed him to hurt other people, but he would prefer not finding out by being forced to do so against his will. The other elves had the same idea, and huddled beneath tables and hid behind sofas. 

When the spells stopped flying overhead, Stiles slowly peeked out between the table legs. Several of the other elves were already being led out of the front door, their masters levitating through the door after them, still paralyzed. 

They hadn’t seen Stiles, and he wasn’t sure whether he should reveal himself or not. When one of the last elves was about to leave with one of the newcomers, a beautiful woman with brown hair, they suddenly stopped. The elf slightly pulled on the woman coat and she bent down to better hear whatever the elf had to say. Stiles had never seen anyone do that, and that alone made Stiles like this new person a little. The woman looked over in Stiles’ direction, and nodded at the elf before leading him out the door. The woman returned a minute later, crouching besides the table where Stiles was still hiding. 

“Hello” the woman said, in a voice soft. 

Stiles didn’t answer, but he did move a little closer to her. 

“The other elf told me that you were here. He also said that you’re not quite like the others, though he didn’t want to elaborate on that. Do you want to come outside? The Argents can’t hurt you anymore.” She said, gesturing for him to come closer to her. 

When he finally crawled close enough for her to see him, her eyes widened, almost comically, and a small ‘Oh’ escaped her. However, she quickly recovered from whatever shock Stiles’ appearance had given her. She slowly led him outside, and that’s when he panicked and everything went black.


	3. A hard habit to break

Stiles snook outside during the night and overheard people discussing him. They discussed what might have happened to him, and how they might revers it, and if he can become a Hogwarts student. He had no idea where he was, but he found his way easily through the house nonetheless, guided by the sound of both familiar and unfamiliar voices. 

The door was ajar, so that he could look into the dimly lighted room. It seemed the only source of light came from the blazing fireplace of to one side of the room. From where Stiles was standing, he could see five people either standing or sitting around a small table. 

“Are you certain that it’s the same smell? I mean, it was six years ago” an elderly woman spoke, addressing a beautiful raven-haired woman. The raven-haired woman pursed her lips clearly annoyed with the weird question.

The beautiful woman answered the question with a certainty in her voice of which Stiles didn’t ever recall hearing before. “I’m sure. It’s exactly the same scent. Almost as if he hasn’t changed at all.” 

One of the men sitting at the table spoke up “Granger told us herself what the house elf said. She trusts us to solve this problem. We’re all here for a reason; because of our individual expertise” He said, sending a look to the elderly woman, who looked down chastised. “I think that are dealing with some kind of Fidelius Charm, maybe in combination with a memory loss incantation.”

A younger woman at the table raised her hand. “Could the less knowledgeable of us, at least concerning obscure magic, be included in this theory?” 

The man who had spoken before nodded, for which Stiles was incredibly happy. He had no idea what those spells might do, as the entire idea of needing spells was rather foreign to him. Elves had no need for incantations, spells or even wands. Their magic worked in an entirely different way.

“A Fidelius Charm” the man explained “is an extremely difficult and multifaceted potent charm. It is most commonly known as a way to hide a secret within an individual’s soul. This individual is known as the secret keeper. I believe that some sort of Fidelius charm has been used to hide the boy’s true self within, while a memory loss charm has been employed to make the boy forget the secret he is carrying within. Or, it might be something as simple as a Polyjuice potion” the man said with a shrug.

“And what of his changed appearance” the young woman asked. 

This time it was the raven-haired woman who answered. “They might have found some way to bastardize the animagus spell. I’ve asked, and none of the boy’s family have metamorphic abilities. Of course there might have been someone in the family who’ve had this ability to naturally change forms without ever realizing it. If that is the case, they might have found a way to force his natural change and keep it in place. No matter the cause of the change I believe I might know of some methods able to fix it.” 

All of the persons at the table had listened with rapt attention, and even Stiles felt as if spellbound by this woman. She invited respect and exuded a kind of power, which made it impossible to ignore her. They discussed for another half an hour, most of which meant nothing to Stiles, but he did his best to memorize all that was said anyway. The raven-haired woman, Talia, Stiles had learned her name was, placed a hand on the younger woman’s arm prompting her to remain behind while the rest of the group left. 

“I need to speak privately with you Melissa” Talia said. They waited until the others had apparated out of sight. 

“You can come out now Stiles” Talia said, surprising Stiles so much that he pushed against the door, which swung open causing him to land on the floor of the room. For a second he was so scared that he’d done something wrong. These people hadn’t presented him with a set of rules. He was used to knowing exactly what he was and wasn’t allowed to do. He liked it that way. That way he could pick his battles, and only break the rules and endure punishment for something he deemed worthwhile. However, when he looked up from his sprawled position on the floor, he was met only with humor. 

The woman called Melissa crouched down next to him, and Stiles startled as her gentle hands helped him to his feet. Stiles looked at her with wide eyes, not daring to speak just yet. Melissa remained on the floor, but moved a bit backwards to give Stiles some more space. Talia, to Stiles’ surprise joined them on the floor. 

“Stiles?” Melissa asked, and he turned to look at her, not missing Talia’s triumphant smile. “I’m a nurse at St Mungo’s hospital. Would you allow me to check and see if you have any injuries?” 

Dazed, Stiles nodded his assent. He had never been asked if he wanted to do something before. He had always received orders, not options. While Melissa checked for injuries all over his body, Talia started asking him questions. At first he was slightly suspicious, but couldn’t see the harm in answering the questions. It certainly wasn’t worth the possible punishment if he refused to answer. Besides, it might even give him some more much needed information. 

“Stiles, I’m going to ask you some questions to determine how deep this transformation goes. I realize that you yourself might have questions, but for the time being it might not be safe for you to know everything.” Stiles nodded, though he had a feeling that his immense displeasure was visible on his face. 

Talia offered a small smile before beginning the interrogation. Some questions were easily answered, like ‘do you remember anything from before your time at the house?’ – ‘no’. Others were not so easy, either because it was a complex question or because Stiles didn’t want to answer. 

“Can you list what separates you from the other elves? Besides the physical aspects”

Stiles thought about it for a moment before he nodded his head. Haltingly he began to speak. “I was bound to the house more so than to the people. The other elves had more difficulty defying their masters. I just couldn’t leave the house. Also, I never had the desire to punish myself whenever I acted out of order. _They_ had to punish me instead.” Melissa and Talia shared a look at that, but Stiles didn’t notice. 

“Have you ever been able to defy a direct command from one of your masters?” Talia asked, voice turning venomous at her last word. 

Stiles nodded his head after some thought. He had been able to look at himself in the mirror, but that had just been him breaking a rule. Breaking the basic rules were one thing, but defying an order was something else. Still, Stiles remembered something from his first days at the house. He had been asked to start a fire. The blond witch had asked him to burn one of her paintings after she had gotten annoyed with the inhabitant of said painting. She didn’t want to risk the painting revealing any of her secrets to a possible new owner. She didn’t stick around to see the deed done, but only because her father called her away on business. Stiles didn’t doubt that she would have enjoyed watching the painting burn. Instead of burning it though, he changed it so that it would be unrecognizable and sent it away. Instead, he burnt a couple of towels, and poured the ash into a nearby trash can. 

Talia smiled at his nod, seemingly not needing to hear the exact instance. “Good, that’s good”

Melissa scooted back across the floor finished with her examination. “He is in near perfect health. A bit malnourished, but nowhere near the rest of the elves”. 

“I worked in the kitchen” Stiles mumbled. 

Talia started to move a bit restlessly, and it was the first time that Stiles had seen her hesitate. “Stiles you are aware that you are not like the other elves; that you are different, right? You are not an elf, not even half an elf”.

Stiles nodded firmly, the image of the ghostly boy from the mirror stark in his mind. Talia was a bit taken aback with Stiles’ firm answer, but soon her eyes narrowed. “How can you be so certain?” She asked, receiving a slightly confused look from Melissa. Stiles weighed his options before lifting himself up of the floor, and moving to stand beside the only full-body mirror in the room. Wizards really had a thing for mirrors, but Stiles had seen them communicate through them so it made sense that they were in almost every room.

Both Melissa and Talia gasped when he stepped into view of the mirror, but Stiles barely heard them, eyes focused on the image that appeared behind him. He felt his mouth lift at the corners at the sight, and the boy smiled back at him. 

After that, everything became a whirlwind of weird people with weird questions and probing hands. Stiles was pretty sure he even fell asleep at some point, too exhausted to even care about the many wizards in the room. It had been a long day and everything that Stiles knew had been turned upside down. It was tiring trying to keep up with all the new information. He was awoken by loud arguing, and he rose from his position slumped in front of the mirror. 

“He needs the right to decide for himself!” Stiles could hear Melissa’s voice shout.

“He’s just a kid, he doesn’t know what’s best for him”.

“This is his entire life you want to take away from him without asking; his entire identity. I’m pretty sure he’ll agree, but you better fucking ask him anyway”.

Stiles turned his head to see Melissa arguing with an unfamiliar man, and was surprised at Melissa’s protective tone almost as much as he was at hearing her swear. Somehow, Talia silenced all of the arguing with a single motion of her hand. However, Stiles also noticed said hand squeezing Melissa’s shoulder in silent apology.

“Stiles” Talia paused as if choosing her words carefully. “Some very bad people took you from your home six years ago, when you were eight. You haven’t aged very much since, but that boy you see in the mirror that was you. We think, we have found a way to turn you back to human again if that’s something you would like? The curse isn’t all that deep focusing mainly on altering your appearance amongst other things. However, we how no idea what the outcome will be if we try to reverse the curse. Our hope is that we’ll also be able to return some of your lost memories to you. Is it still something you would like to do?”

Stiles had been nodding all along, knowing somewhere deep down that he was that boy, and he would take every change he could get to be that boy again.

Talia smiled “Okay. I’ll put you to sleep now, and when you wake up, you’ll be yourself again.”


	4. Six years later

Stiles groaned and hid under his duvet, when there was a knock on the door to his room.

“Stiles, you need to get up” his father’s voice called, and Stiles smiled in response.

Even after all these years the sound of his father’s voice or the sight of him as he taught one of his classes still made Stiles smile. Most of his memories had returned during the first week of him being human again. The week after, was one Stiles would rather like to forget. The memories of his mother and her death had caused him to grieve all over again. It was like losing her for the second time, and it didn’t hurt any less than the first. Luckily, those memories where followed by ones of his father, who had been an Auror at the time. It didn’t take long for them to get ahold of Stiles’ father, who ended up becoming a teacher at Hogwarts, as everyone agreed it was the safest place for Stiles. It had taken a lot of work, but they were finally back to something resembling normal. At least compared to most magical families. 

Sleepily, Stiles sat up in bed dreading the cold air he knew would hit him the moment he flipped his covers to the side. Smirking, he opted for the easier way out, and snapped his fingers disappearing from his room and appearing fully clothed in his and his father’s shared kitchen. 

“Stiles!” his father shouted, startled by his sudden appearance. “No magic outside of your official duties. You know the rules”

“Yeah, yeah I know; no magic for wizards under the age of seventeen. Rules that apparently apply even to those whose magic is indistinguishable from the other elves’. The ministry of magic would never know”

His father just sent him a look, and Stiles knew it was a lost battle. “Fine” Stiles sighed, and set about making breakfast for himself and his dad.

They ate in relative silence, only discussing their plans for the day, which was pretty much like any other day. “You plan on watching Scott during the quidditch match today?” His father asked, mouth stuffed with crêpes. Stiles nodded his head, and smiled. It wasn’t the first time Scott was playing, but it still happened so rarely that Stiles didn’t want to miss it. Scott was one of Stiles’ two wizard friends at Hogwarts, and also happened to be nurse Melissa’s son. They had met during one of Stiles’ monthly checkups. Melissa, the nurse that had been with Stiles when he turned back to human, had decided to leave her job at St. Mungo’s hospital to be closer to Scott who had just started at Hogwarts at the time.

“Yeah, wouldn’t miss it for the world. The elves have this really cool thing called a television, so that we can all watch the match from the kitchen”.

“What’s a television?” his father asked, scratching at the back of his head, while draining his coffee.

“It’s a muggle thing. Officially it was banned by the ministry of magic during the 1980’s. _But_ before you say anything, we’ve got a special permit for it.” Stiles finished triumphantly.

His father simply sighed, and ruffled Stiles’ hair, on his way to his first morning class. Stiles lounged around the room for a bit, reading some of the books he had managed the sneak out of the library. When he had finished the chapter on Hippocampus, he placed the book on the coffee table before exiting his and his father’s living quarters. All of the students were at class, and the ones that weren’t were too busy with each other to pay him any attention. By unanimous decision, it was agreed that Stiles’ whereabouts and general existence where to be kept quiet. His magic was new and dangerous in the eyes of some, as it couldn’t be effected by a counter-spell. Others took a slightly more dangerous interest in him, viewing him as nothing more than a science project. A memory charm took care of that threat however. Stiles was okay with the decision. He didn’t want to be hounded by reporters or openly ostracized by the wizarding world, no matter which of the outcomes might have occurred.

The way to kitchen was so familiar that he could walk it in his sleep. Something he had done many times over the years, when nightmares plagued him. There would always be someone in the kitchen ready to offer a kind word or a mug of hot cocoa. 

As soon as he entered the kitchen, he felt a sense of calm wash over him. He was greeted by a multitude of high-pitched voices, as most of the elves paused in their cooking to welcome him. He practically danced his way through the kitchen, used to the mess, evading flying plates, high piles of plates and elves climbing or standing on pretty much any available surface. 

Hours passed quickly, and Stiles kept busy working around the kitchen. It was the only time that he was allowed to use his magic. He didn’t use much magic during the preparation, preferring to cook the meal the old fashioned way, as did most of the other elves. Most magic was used during the cleanup and when the food was to be delivered to the great hall. 

Half an hour before lunch one of the elves pulled his sleeve and led him to a quieter part of the kitchen. Most of the cooking was done, but Stiles had still been working on one of the dishes.

“Come on Stiles, let someone else finish. You’ve done enough.” One of the house elves, Smil, said.

Stiles let himself be led away; knowing that resisting her would only result in having another elf coming over and trying to convince him to take a break. Sighing, Stiles sat down at the table, while Smil placed a plate brimming with food in front of him with a snap of her fingers. “Eat” she ordered kindly, and Stiles had the suspension that she was somehow in cahoots with his dad and Melissa. He didn’t get to ask her, as she quickly moved away to finish frosting the cupcakes she had been working on before coming to talk to him. On her way she turned on the television, the image of the school’s quidditch field flickering into being. 

Stiles smiled, and shook his head before starting to eat. The other elves were talking quietly around the table, and Stiles enjoyed listening to their plans. He frequently commented on whatever random topic they were discussing, not being able to keep quiet. However, if the smiles the elves gave him where anything to go by, they didn’t mind his ceaseless chatter. They also discussed what to make for dinner. Normally they made the same dishes, but they always made some variations or added new things to try out on the students. One of the elves mentioned that, he had overheard some of the students, including some of the new transfer students, saying that they were hoping that there was pierogi again. Stiles felt a pleasant warmth spread through his chest, and looked to the kitchen table where there were plates filled with pierogi made after his mother’s old family recipe.

As soon as they were done eating, a stream of dirtied plates from the great hall started appearing in the kitchen. The cleanup was quickly taken care of, and the rest of the elves let Stiles do most of the work. They knew that he needed an outlet for his magic, as he wasn’t allowed to use it like they were. If he didn’t use his magic he could feel it thrumming under his skin, making him agitated and fidgety. When Stiles had finished cleaning, the other elves started preparing for dinner, and Stiles bid them goodbye. 

Stiles must have taken a longer time eating than usual, because when he exited the kitchen students were crowding the hall. Panicked, Stiles pressed up against the wall, sinking into the shadows behind a statue. For a second he thought that he had been noticed, when a black haired guy turned around to look almost directly at where he was hiding. He could only breathe freely again, when a blond curly haired guy pulled the other guy away.

He let his head thump against the cold stone wall, and snapped his fingers before he could think the better of it. The sounds of the forbidden forest surrounded him suddenly, and he sent a silent apology to his father for breaking the law about using magic outside the kitchen. 

The forbidden forest gave Stiles a certain comfort that he couldn’t find within the castle. Sometimes he needed to get outside, just to make sure that he was no longer confined like he had been at the mansion. Sure enough, there was no pull at his magic, and no pain from being outside. Logically, Stiles knew that of course he could go outside, but whenever he panicked, it was always the first thing that he checked. 

His feet were sore when he returned to the castle a couple of hours later. He had spent most of the time walking aimlessly around the woods, greeting whatever magical creature that came across his path. Most of the sentient ones knew him quite well by now. The rest still identified Stiles as a magical creature, and accepted his presence in the forest as a result.

Once the sun was almost invisible out by the horizon, he climbed the last couple of stairs and entered Hogwarts. Dinner was already long over, and Stiles dragged his tired feet down into the kitchen. 

The sight that greeted him however was not the one he had expected. His best friend Scott was standing directly on the other side of the kitchen door, looking unamused. 

“You didn’t eat dinner. Your dad was even down here”

Stiles stiffened a bit at that. His dad never came down into the kitchen. It wasn’t that he had anything against the elves, so much as it was that he didn’t like being reminded what his son had gone through. 

“I wasn’t hungry” Stiles shrugged, trying to ignore Scott’s unimpressed stare. He looked so much like Melissa when he did that. 

The silence dragged on until Stiles finally sighed “Look man, I just got lost in thought wandering in the woods, okay? Nothing more. You know how I get sometimes.” Stiles shrugged again self-consciously. “I saw you play quidditch from my perch in the tall trees. You were good dude”

“Thanks dude” Scott exclaimed happily, a smile breaking out in his face momentarily before he sobered. “Bad dreams again?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

Stiles nodded, glad that Scott knew not to ask any questions, and instead opted for squeezing his shoulder consolingly. “How’s Kira?” Stiles asked, trying to get Scott to think of something else. It worked like a charm, and Stiles could almost see Scott’s eyes glaze over as he recounted how she had smiled at him during transfiguration. Scott left soon after, not allowed to be out after curfew. 

All around him elves appeared from where they had been hiding while Scott was in the kitchen. Even though none of these elves considered themselves slaves, the notion that ‘the best elf was one that was neither heard nor seen’ was still rooted too deeply inside them all. Stiles had never had that same drive, but he had quickly learned that back at the house it was best to be both unseen and unheard. At Hogwarts, he still preferred to stay in the shadows, but his voice was louder than ever. It had taken him a while to get into the habit of speaking at regular volumes when talking to anyone but the elves, but now he was finally almost back to the way he was when he was younger.

A handful of flour was thrown at his face, pulling him from his spiraling thoughts. Five elves stood in the kitchen grinning at him, laughing as he tried to remove some of the flour from his hair. Soon after, he gave up and laughed with them. He reached into the nearest back of flour before throwing is own handful. An all-out flour war broke out, giggling elves throwing flour all over, and cheating with magic whenever their aim was insufficient. 

It was a long time since Stiles had had such fun. He and most of the elves laid spread out on the floor trying to catch their breaths while sometimes randomly starting to giggle. They all looked to Stiles when it was time to clean up, and he smiled at them in gratitude. His magic unfurled in his chest warm and comforting, as he started to clean up. Flour disappeared only to reappear in the trash, stools righted themselves and that one glass that had broken mended itself and flew to its place on the shelf. Finally, he closed all of the cupboard doors that had been used as annoyingly effective shields.

“Feeling better?” Smil inquired.

“Much” Stiles replied kindly. 

“Good” She patted his cheek in a motherly way, while standing on the kitchen counter, so that she could reach him. “Now I have a job for you. If you’re interested?” She asked, knowing that he wouldn’t say no, too curious to hear what she wanted him to do.

“Bring this piece of pie to the Hufflepuff, Anna Bones. Her grandmother is sick, so she could use some cheering up. And secondly, I want you to bring this mug of chocolate to one of the transfer students, a Gryffindor named Derek Hale. He always seems so sad, and never smiles. He could do with some cheering up, and some chocolate, but you have to be careful not to get noticed, as he’s very… _perceptive_.” 

“Okay, yeah, sure. I can do that. I can totally do that” Stiles rambled, grabbing the stuff he needed. Smil smiled secretively at him, wishing him good luck before disappearing from the kitchen. 

Most house elves loved taking care of people. It was actually, what had started the exploitation and maltreatment of elves. It was a trait that Stiles had originally thought he had gotten solely from the elves, until his father had told him that it had actually started after his mother’s death. However, after a few days of vegetarian and low-sodium meals after Stiles’ return, his dad conceited that there might have been an enhancement of this particular trait. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother Stiles all that much. 

He started by taking the biggest piece of pie he could find, to the Hufflepuff girls’ dormitory. All of the students were asleep excluding Anna Bones. Stiles could hear her rustling around in their downstairs common room. As quietly as possible, he walked towards the stairs, slowly pushing open the door to see if he could see the girl. She was very young, most likely on her first or second year of Hogwarts. The fireplace was blazing, outshouting the quiet sobs racking the small girl’s body. The Bones family was relatively famous, and Stiles knew that most of the family had been murdered during darker times. With that in mind, Anna might not have all that much family left, and Stiles deeply emphasized with her. 

He looked into the dormitory, making sure that the rest of the students were still asleep, before he snapped his fingers. The pie, along with its plate, lifted into the air moving down the stairs towards the girl. When the pie neared her, the girl looked up startled and frightened until she took in the entire scene. A small smile broke out across her face as she grabbed the pie out of the air and wiped a stray tear away. Stiles snapped his fingers again, producing a fork from the kitchen, which she also grabbed, her smile growing even wider. 

“Thank you” She whispered into the empty room, and Stiles smiled in reply, before letting himself disappear from the room only to reappear in the hallway outside of the Hufflepuff common room. He wondered whether Anna would like some of his mother’s peanut butter cookies. As he wandered towards the Gryffindor common room, he decided that he would make some of those cookies for her later in the week.

Some of the paintings were still awake, and greeted Stiles in quiet whispers. Stiles stopped to talk to some of them, talking their ears of for a couple of minutes before bidding them goodbye. The torches along the halls stayed unlit as he passed, which suited him perfectly, as his eyes had already adapted to the darkness. 

Walking down the dark hallways gave Stiles a sense of calm, and he was glad that he could do something to help someone else. It was liberating to be able to walk the hallways without fearing that someone would see the weird kid without any house colors, who didn’t seem to be in any of the classes, or sleep in any of the dorm rooms. When Stiles reached the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, he slowed down, contemplating Smil’s words. He didn’t know why, but he felt the sudden need to slow down his movements, and hide in the shadows once more. 

Everything was quiet inside the Gryffindor dormitory, and Stiles breathed more easyly as he saw the sleeping figures of the students. After a quick look at the different suitcases, he found one with the initials DH, which he assumed stood for Derek Hale. However, when he neared the bed he quickly came to realize that it was very much empty. Hesitantly, he neared the bed until he was finally able to place the hot cocoa on the bedside table. 

He stood uncertain for a moment, unsure whether he should go looking for the missing student, or simply go home to get some sleep himself. In the end, he cast a silent spell on the drink, keeping it warm, and decided to check the downstairs before leaving for home.

Downstairs was completely devoid of students, so Stiles shrugged his shoulders, and headed for the door. When he was halfway there, one of the pictures started to wave his arms about and frantically shake his head, gesturing for Stiles to hide.

Stiles barely even managed to dive into a shadowy corner of the room before the door opened up. Stiles was contemplating whether he should simply apparate out of the room or turn himself invisible, when the student stepped through the door and promptly froze, causing Stiles to tense up as well. 

“Hello! You’re not supposed to be here. This is private property” the person said while slowly stepping further into the room. “I can hear you”

Stiles was startled by the fact that he actually did know this student. It was the black haired guy who almost saw him in the hallway after lunch. The thought made him pause. He could have easily disappeared out of the room leaving the student none the wiser, but he didn’t. If he had left, he might have been able to bribe Nearly Headless Nick to pretend that he was the one had been in the common room, but he didn’t. 

Derek, Stiles was fairly certain, had now stepped completely into the room, giving Stiles a good look at him. He was tall, at least a bit taller than Stiles himself, and he had very broad shoulders. He looked older than most of the other students, but that might have something to do with the sheer amount of muscle on his body. His eyebrows were something in and of their own, and contributed to the frown that did nothing to hide how attractive he was. ‘He has green eyes’ Stiles thought dazedly to himself as said eyes found his in the darkness. It should have been impossible in the nearly pitch black room, but their eyes locked. For an undefinable amount of time neither spoke, until Derek broke the silence. 

“What are you doing here” he said finishing with a growl. Which, really?

Stiles gave one last thought to simply apparating out of the room, before steeling himself to answer the question. Instead of invisibility, he quickly snapped his fingers manifesting his mother’s old Slytherin scarf behind his back. He had no idea why, but he wanted to talk to this person. No, he needed to talk to this person, with his dark demeanor and bushy eyebrows. 

“Me?” Stiles said voice sounding squeaky, even to himself. Derek didn’t say anything, and only lifted his eyebrows. Stiles felt like they were somehow judging him. “Yes, of course you mean me. We’re the only ones here. I was just… I just wanted to visit my friend Scott, but he’s asleep so....” Stiles finished slightly more sure of himself. He slowly stepped out of the shadows, watching as Derek’s eyes widened and then turned guarded. Derek’s nostrils flared, and Stiles was suddenly scared that he had somehow further angered the man, but he only took a step backwards, away from Stiles. 

“Leave” Derek ground out.

Stiles looked at him, startled at the blunt dismissal, but after a moment he merely shrugged, and smiled as he left out of the open door. He made sure to wrap the scarf around his neck on his way out.


	5. The New Wolves At School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello :)  
> I'm so sorry this is so late... to be honest I'm just glad that I survived my first exams. But I did, and I celebrated by writing this chapter. It's not quite like i wanted it to be, but what can you do ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> I hope you like it, and feel free to leave comments or kudos.
> 
> Btw, this has no beta so all mistakes are mine. If there are any glaring ones, you're welcome to point them out to me :)

“And he was just sitting in the shadows?” Cora asked while forking yet another pierogi onto her plate. Derek nodded, only halfway listening, as he was engaged in a fork war with Erica over the last pierogi. Derek had explained what had happened the night before, and Cora had already promised that she would look into who this Slytherin was. As they were sitting at the Slytherin table, and Derek still couldn’t either see or smell him it seemed like she would have her work cut out for her. 

“Maybe he was just trying to pull a prank or something. That’s what Slytherins do, right Cora?” Laura asked smirking at Cora, who only rolled her eyes. Had it been anyone else insinuating anything bad about the Slytherin house, Cora would most likely have already stuck her fork in them, closely followed by Laura herself. 

“He could have been telling the truth about wanting to visit Scott. Scott’s very nice” Isaac piped up, before ducking down over his lunch. Erica snorted loudly, causing Isaac to blush, and enabling Derek to finally get the pierogi onto his plate. He was stuffing his face with said pierogi, and smirking at Erica’s outraged expression when another plate filled with pierogi appeared. All of his friends cackled at him.

After a couple of minutes, Laura sobered up. “In all seriousness Derek, if you think this guy is up to something bad you should tell a professor.”

“No, no. I don’t think he was trying to do something bad. It was just weird is all” Derek shrugged, trying to get the image of beautiful golden eyes out of his head. Erica looked at him with narrowed eyes, before her expression became downright gleeful. “Derek’s got a crush!” she sing-songed. The rest cheerfully chimed in, teasing him relentlessly. He took it in good stride, used to them teasing him and poking fun at his frown and other mannerisms. Still he felt his face heat up a little at the thought of the beautiful and smirking Slytherin boy.

Soon enough the topic of conversation switched to the upcoming full moon. The first one since they arrived at the school. Derek had already noticed that the students kept an even wider berth than usual. Laura, Cora and Derek himself were born werewolves whereas; Erica, Boyd, and Isaac had all been bitten later on. They all mastered control to some extent, and only the bitten wolves had to drink a potion to help contain their wolves, which meant that they couldn’t shift during that time. Isaac had the most control out of the three, due to his fear of harming others like he himself had been harmed by his father. Still, Isaac had trouble remaining calm in small and enclosed spaces, so Derek’s mother Talia had illegally taught Isaac the art of apparition. Just in case he needed to escape, which in turn had led to her teaching all of her young betas.

Derek was smiling fondly to himself at a memory of how Cora, during her first attempt at apparition, accidentally apparated into the bathroom while Laura was taking a shower, when a familiar scent wafted towards him. It was the same scent from last night, and Derek was absolutely certain that it belonged to the Slytherin in question.

He turned his head looking for the source of the scent, but the only person who had entered the Great Hall was Lydia Martin, a Ravenclaw prefect. At second sniff, the scent actually seemed to cling to her, as if she had spent much time with the owner of said scent.

Derek was already standing up and walking to the Gryffindor table, where Lydia was sitting with her best friend Allison, before he knew what he was doing. He faintly registered Laura hissing at him under her breath, asking him what the hell he was doing. If only he knew that himself.

“Do you know the Slytherin boy who was in the Gryffindor common room last night?” Derek asked, choosing to ignore how Lydia’s perfectly trimmed eyebrows jumped at the sudden question. Next to Allison a boy, Scott, Derek reminded himself, started wheezing as if he had inhaled too much food at once. When Allison moved to pat his back he frantically waved his arms around indicating that he was fine.

Derek turned his attention back to Lydia, who had become a shade paler it would seem. Her face was an impeccable mask of boredom, but Derek could smell her worry and hear her heartbeat picking up its pace. Lydia hadn’t seemed scared of him before he started asking questions, so he didn’t think that was the case. His sisters, however, seemed to either think that he had scared or greatly offended Lydia, as they rushed to his side, making apologies for his stunted social behavior.

Lydia simply waved them off with a smile, heartbeat settling back into its normal rhythm. Derek only realized that she hadn’t answered his question once he was firmly seated once again at the Slytherin table.

***

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful, and Derek almost began thinking that he was overreacting; that it was just the upcoming full moon that had him on edge. Laura seemed to think so too, with the amount of eye rolling that she did.

It wasn’t so much the fact that a Slytherin had been in his common room after dark, as it was the fact that he hadn’t been able to forget his scent or the way the moonlight lit up his pale skin and golden eyes. It was annoying at best. There was also the fact that the boy hadn't been shying away from him one bit. All of it just struck him as being extremely peculiar, as all of the other students still avoided him and his sisters. It didn’t bother Cora at all, but Laura, who had once attended a muggle school for a couple of months, had actually known what it was like to attend a school where people didn’t know about their ‘condition’. It was harder on her, and Derek was looking forward to running in the woods in the hope that it might cheer her up a bit.

Derek contemplated making Laura some hot chocolate. When he had gone to bed the previous night, after having met the mysterious Slytherin, he had found a big mug of hot chocolate waiting for him. After having sniffed it, and tried a revealing spell, he finally drank it concluding that there was nothing wrong with it. Strangely, it had made him feel better, even though he hadn’t even been aware that he had been sad to begin with.

The moon rose early that day, so he and his sisters ate more than usual during lunch, in the hopes that they could starve off their hunger until breakfast. Their mother had made sure, that they could eat their dinner after they returned to the castle, but Derek and his sisters had all agreed that they didn’t want to attract further attention themselves, or cause undue trouble.

Soon enough they were walking out of the castle, watching as the moon hung just above the horizon. It was their first full moon there, and the it felt a little foreboding that the forest didn’t call to them the same way the one in their territory did.

Still, he looked forward to stretching his legs and running in the woods without the danger of scaring some random student. Cora had been restless all week, so he knew that she felt very much the same way. Laura hadn’t let it show, how restless she had been, but she was the first to shift into her full shift and take off into the woods. Cora was close behind her.

Derek took a little longer to simply look at the moon and bask in its light, before he too shifted and ran into the woods.

Time moved differently while shifted. It sped up as he ran, and slowed down while he hunted. Whatever he caught he let go again almost immediately, simply enjoying the chase. He was chasing a mouse, when Laura called him to attention with a short howl. Now, that he was no longer explicitly focused on his prey, he noticed the faint tremor that shook the entire ground.

Everything was silent except from Derek and Laura’s quiet growls. Cora tried to growl with them, but her voice kept cracking as she fought to keep from letting her tail move to between her legs. Cora had never been in an actual fight before, and her combat training was practically non-existent compared to Derek or Laura. Derek moved closer to her, as Laura did the same, ignoring how her growl became tinted with annoyance.

As suddenly as the forest had been cast into silence it erupted into sound once more. A herd of centaurs came barreling through the bushes, clearly panicked as they tried to run around or even jump over the three wolves. Derek thought he heard one of them yelling at them to run, but that particular centaur was gone again so fast that he couldn’t be sure. Briefly he and Laura shared a look before they too turned tail and started running in the same direction as the centaurs. Derek knew exactly was Laura had been thinking. Centaurs were fierce and strong, so whatever had them this scared and running this fast wasn’t something that they wanted to meet.

Time sped up again as they ran, Laura at the front and Derek at the back of the pack in order to keep Cora in the middle. This was probably why, Laura and Cora kept running when Derek was suddenly plowed into by a herd of deer, coming out of nowhere and just as panicked as the centaurs.

He though, he felt bone snap, but the sound of it and his instinctive whine were drowned in the chaos that the forest had become. The ground underneath him suddenly chilled, and he renewed his resolve to start running once again, but his left hind leg wasn’t cooperating. As he stood on shaky legs, hurting from his fall and from being trampled, he looked to his left to see another fallen. The deer was badly wounded, most likely having taken the brunt of the rampaging herd, protecting Derek from the worst of the onslaught.

He was barely standing, but getting stronger with each second his healing was allowed to work. A couple of clouds must have drifted over the moon, because all of the natural light disappeared, casting the both of them into darkness. Derek had an advantage compared to the deer, who most likely would have more trouble seeing in the dark. Derek supposed, that was why he survived while the deer didn’t.

A dark shadow reached out from among the trees, and wrapped around the hind leg of the deer. The deer started struggling all too late, and it was pulled backwards into the dense bushes, by a seemingly formless creature. Derek had no idea what the creature was, but judging by the sounds the deer made as it died, and the excessive amounts of blood Derek could smell, he didn’t want to know.

He was limping away from where the deer made its final sound of agony, careful not to put too much weight on his still healing leg, when something roughly grabbed his ankle making him tumble to the ground. Pure instinct made him kick his leg out, and by some miracle he managed to lessen the hold of whatever had gotten ahold of him. A stinging pain emanating from his left thigh gave him one last burst of adrenaline, and he managed to put all of his remaining strength into getting to his feet. His broken leg was mostly healed, having taken a bit longer than normal due to the sheer amount of damage. The new wound however, the one that resembled tree long claws dragging down his left thigh, wasn’t closing up at all. It kept bleeding, and Derek knew that with the amount of blood running down his leg and soaking his fur, he would soon start to feel lightheaded.

The creature that had attacked him seemed in no particular hurry to throw him to the ground once more. He was an extremely vulnerable target, and couldn’t understand why the creature hadn’t pounced already. It took him a moment to realize that the creature already thought of him as dead. Its venom was pulsing within his bloodstream, weakening him. It most likely though that he would soon die, and it could simply follow him later and get an easy meal.

He started making his way back towards the castle, hoping that he would make it before the creature decided that it was done waiting. Maybe he could reach Laura and Cora, or even make it inside before he collapsed from the blood loss. He thought about howling to let Laura and Cora know his position, but he didn’t want them anywhere near that creature. None of them had brought their wands with them, as there wasn’t anywhere to put them.

When he reached a stream, he realized that he was well and truly lost. They hadn’t come across a stream on their way out, and so he had no idea where he was. Even though he had no idea if the creature truly had a good sense of smell, he decided to swim across the stream in the hopes of derailing the creature.

The water was freezing, and Derek was almost regretting his decision the moment the water came into contact with his skin. Hopefully, the water would help to wash out the poison.

Lightheaded as he was, it seemed like the decline came out of nowhere. He tumbled down it, for what seemed like minutes, trying to protect the wound on his leg. When he finally stopped moving, he just laid there breathing heavily.

The blood seemed to be flowing more sluggishly than before, but Derek wasn’t sure whether that was a good or a bad thing. He closed his eyes for what seemed like mere seconds, but found himself being poked awake an undefinable amount of time later. He turned his head slightly, cheek dragging over the moist leaves that littered the forest floor. As soon as his eyes focused on whatever had woken him up, he recoiled slightly from the shock.

A young fairy stood inches away from him, almost touching his nose, while regarding him with big, curious eyes.

“Pretty” The fairy murmured, while pulling at its own hair to make sure that it was in place.

That comment was what finally made him realize that he had shifted back to his human form. He must have done it while he was unconscious. When the fairy reached for his face, he couldn’t help but jerk back, but immediately wished that he hadn’t. The fairy looked like it was going to cry, and Derek realized how young this fairy truly was.

“Don’t cry” he rasped, voice sore from howling earlier in the evening. It felt like eons ago since he had seen his sisters.

The fairy just started sobbing wholeheartedly. “Pretty thinks I’m ugly” she sobbed.

Derek felt a bit out of sorts, not knowing what to do. “Who’s pretty?” As soon as he uttered the words he thought back to the fairy’s first word. He would later blame the blood loss for not figuring that our sooner. “Right, I’m pretty” he mumbled to himself.

“Yeah you are” the fairy voiced in a timid voice while trying to wipe her runny nose.

“No I didn’t mean… never mind” Derek sighed, when the fairy resumed her crying. “I don’t think you’re ugly. You just startled me”

The fairy’s sobs quieted a bit. “Really?” she asked, to which Derek nodded furiously, or as much as he could while lying on the ground. He thought about everything he knew about fairies and suddenly he knew just what to say to make her stop crying. “Yes you just startled me… you’re very pretty too”.

As soon as he uttered those words, she stopped crying, and blinked her big eyes at him. She didn’t say anything, but her mouth was hanging open in a wide smile.

“Since you’re so beautiful I bet you can find someone to help me get back to the castle, maybe even my sisters?” Derek asked, internally wincing at the flawed logic. The lack of logic didn’t seem to matter to the fairy, who beamed, and nodded her head. Fairies were known for being extraordinarily vain, which was practically the only thing Derek knew about the small humanoid creatures.

“Okay, okay, okay, okay. I’m pretty. I’ll get help. I’ll get the house elf. He’s nice, he gave me my voice” She practically shouted, before she started to flitter of into the forest. Derek had a fleeting thought of horror, when he remembered that fairies were also very well known for not being the brightest. He laid there for another five minutes, before he started trying to get up on his own. The fairy had said that she was going to get an elf, so the way she disappeared must be the way to the castle.

Just as he was almost upright, mostly supporting himself on a nearby tree, the fairy came flittering back into view. Panic spread through him, gripping him tight, when he saw that there wasn’t an elf following the fairy.

He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing and clear his head. Panicking wouldn’t solve anything.

“Holy shit!” a voice exclaimed, and Derek’s eyes flew wide open.


	6. A wolf in need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)  
> I'm so very sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I thought I would have extra time during the holidays... I was wrong. But still, here's another chapter. I hope you'll like it :)
> 
> Btw there's a tiny bit of swearing in this chapter... thought I should mention it :)

Stiles had been spending his night lounging around in the forest, entertaining the various magical creatures, or annoying them, depending on who was asked, when a familiar fairy had almost flown directly into his chest. 

He had first met the fairy back when he arrived at Hogwarts, and his knowledge on fairies had been fairly limited. The fairy had enthusiastically followed him home, pretending to be a decoration to be admired once she found a way into his rooms. When he saw her he told her that she couldn’t stay with him, she had started crying hysterically. He had panicked and offered her another gift, a voice. He was still rather shell-shocked when his father came home, and metaphorically hit him over the back of the head, telling him that fairies would try or do anything to be admired by people.

Now the fairy started alternating between pulling at his hair and the front of his t-shirt, trying to pull him deeper into the forest. Confused Stiles followed the fairy, hurrying along when he heard her mumble about someone who was hurt. Healing came as easy to him as everything else did, and for once he was glad that his magic had remained perpetually changed. If someone truly was hurt, and the fairy wasn’t just exaggerating someone’s bad hair day, he might actually be able to help. Maybe he could even disguise his magic, so it looked like regular magic.

When he broke through the tree line and into a small clearing he couldn’t contain the “holy shit!” caused by the sight in front of him. Derek Hale, the new student, was leaning heavily on a tree, swaying slightly from side to side as black goo oozed from a big wound on his left thigh. As their eyes met across the small clearing, Derek’s eyes flashed blue, and Stiles’ mind helpfully supplied ‘not human’. He stood shell-shocked for a couple of seconds, but sprang into action as Derek started slowly sliding down the tree he was leaning against.

“Oh no you don’t buddy” Stiles mumbled as he ran to Derek’s side. At first Derek tried to flinch away, but when he almost tumbled to the ground he seemed to realize that he really didn’t have the strength to get away from Stiles. “And don’t think that we won’t discuss those baby blues of yours” Stiles said, only faltering slightly in his movements when Derek actually growled at him. Werewolf, then. It made sense, now that Stiles thought about it; it was the full moon after all.

The fairy kept hovering over his shoulder buzzing, and pleading with the ‘elf’ to help ‘Pretty’. Stiles hoped, that Derek was too out of it, to think anything of the fairy’s mutterings. Stiles helped Derek slowly onto the ground, while he tried to keep the other’s damaged leg straight. He was so focused on trying to make Derek comfortable, that he didn’t notice Derek grabbing a fistful of his t-shirt, claws poking holes in the worn fabric. He only noticed when Derek pulled at his shirt, causing him to fall forward slightly, so that he ended up almost nose to nose with the angry wolf.

Derek growled, and for a second Stiles was certain that he was going to be asked to cut of his leg. He had no idea why that thought made its presence known, but as soon as Derek started talking the thought left his mind again.

“Get out of here! Go to the castle; it’s coming”

Stiles’ mind blanked. What was coming? Nothing currently living in the forest would have the ability to wound a werewolf in this way. Okay, strictly speaking that wasn’t true, but nothing would _want_ to wound a wolf like that. The fairy clearly listened, as she flittered back into the woods.

When Stiles didn’t move, Derek seemingly used the rest of his strength trying to push Stiles in the direction of the castle. The rest of his strength, though, only amounted to Stiles landing on his ass from his already crouched position.

“God, you are a Sourwolf aren’t you” Stiles muttered darkly. “You can’t honestly think that I would leave you here?” Stiles asked, mostly to himself.

Stiles was considering just snapping his fingers and using his special brand of magic to take Derek to the castle’s infirmary when two snarling and clearly very pissed of wolves erupted from the bushes. Stiles will maintain to the day he dies, that his sound of surprise was extremely manly, and bore no resemblance to that of prepubescent girl. Additionally, he will also firmly state that complete surprise was the only reason that he snapped his fingers calling forth his magic, and not because the one wolf with the red eyes was creeping him the fuck out.

He hadn’t really visualized what he wanted to do with his magic, which was why he currently had two very surprised wolves hanging upside down from the tree whose branches were currently snaked around them.

Between one blink and the next the two wolves changed into regular girls. Well, regular if one looked past the fangs, excessive amounts of hair, and the still glowing eyes.

Stiles wasn’t even sure that they had registered their shift back into beta-form, as they were too busy staring at him with slightly open mouths. Judging by their expressions, as well as the one Derek was wearing, none of them had missed his little magical stunt.

He was seriously considering the option of simply knocking all three of them out, and trying to convince them that it had all simply been a dream, by never letting either of them see him again. Just as he was about to do something, anything really, all of the wolves visibly stiffened, even Derek who appeared to be barely conscious. It only took one second before Stiles himself became aware of what the wolves had clearly already heard. If Stiles was correct in assuming that the wolves had beyond average hearing, then that would mean that whatever had the wolves so frightened was rapidly nearing.

True enough, soon after a black shadowy mass came bounding into the clearing, making Derek whine and the two other wolves growl and struggle against their bonds. The creature stopped short, as its eyes moved to rest on Stiles, clearly not sure what to make of him. Stiles watched as the muscles in its hind legs tensed, the prelude to its pounce, and decided to act quickly. He offered a smile and a jaunty wave before he snapped his fingers with a smirk. The last thing he saw of the forest, was that creature mid leap.

Not even a second later the hospital wing in the castle formed around him, and he let the two girls fall onto the floor while he concentrated on making Derek land in one of the beds. All of the beds were luckily empty, so Stiles didn’t have to worry about being seen by anyone. Though it might have been easier convincing someone that they had taken too many of the good painkillers, rather than convincing three wolves that they had hallucinated the same thing.

The two female wolves were lying slightly winded on the floor, most likely getting used to the sensory overload caused by such an unexpected change in scenery.

“Yeah, sorry about that” Stiles said, mind still on the wolves’ sensory overload. When he turned to face Derek he found that the wolf had finally passed out. Only then did Stiles notice something else, and being the curious creature that he was he couldn’t help but ask, or more accurately babble.

“How come you all have clothes on? Shouldn’t you like be naked or something? Not that I want you to be naked! It’s just weird, is all, you know? Well you probably don’t know, because you know how you still have clothes on. At least I assume you know… do you?... know, that is?”

The wolves remained silent, simply staring up at him with wide eyes, though they now lacked their respective red and golden colors.

“Oh! Right! I’m Stiles” He said, thinking that the cat was already out of the bag, so he might as well properly introduce himself. However, when he moved forward to shake their hands and help them up of off the floor he became aware that Derek had a rather tight grip on his left hand. Even while unconscious it took Stiles a couple of seconds to get out of Derek’s grasp.

When he turned to face the girls again, he could feel that his face had heated up, creating a blush high on his cheeks. Seemingly, this was enough to snap the girls out of their own heads, and they both wore almost identical smirks as they looked up at him. He didn’t even have time to help them up before they were already standing.

“Hi Stiles. I’m Laura, this is Cora” She said gesturing to the younger female. “And that moron over there is our brother Derek, but you knew that already didn’t you? He mentioned having spoken with you”

“He did?” Stiles couldn’t help but ask, knowing that his mouth was hanging open slightly in a way that had to be highly unattractive.

“Yup” Laura said, while bouncing on the balls of her feet, a shit-eating grin on her face.

Stiles was about to make a remark, even though he had no idea what he was going to say, when Melissa opened the door making a bee-line for Derek. Stiles had sent her a message while he was transporting them out of the forest. Multitasking was totally his bitch.

The change in the two girls was instantaneous and palpable as they once again looked towards their brother, this time with worry in their eyes. Melissa must have noticed it too, because she looked at them before reassuring them that their brother was going to be just fine. Stiles didn’t know what to think when he felt himself relax immensely at those words too. It wasn’t like he actually knew Derek, and yet he had been rather worried, even knowing that werewolves are tough.

Laura and Cora seemed to relax at Melissa’s calming words, and only then did Stiles realize how tense they had been the entire time, even while they were smiling and joking.

“Did one of you see whatever did this?” Melissa asked, while examining a still passed out Derek.

Both girls nodded, but didn’t seem sure how to elaborate on what they had seen. Sties himself wasn’t even sure what the hell that thing was, but he did his best to describe it to Melissa. She paled a bit at the description, but didn’t comment only nodding her head while Stiles spoke.

“Okay, all of you out!” When both of the wolves whined Melissa sent them a glare, but Stiles could see that she didn’t really mean it. “Girls, I need some space and privacy if I’m going to be able to help your brother. I know that your emotions are running wild right now, but I need you to listen and do as I say, okay? You can go call your parents. That should settle some of the anxiety caused by a pack member in distress, right?” Melissa asked uncertainly, clearly not entirely sure how wolf packs function.

Laura and Cora nodded once more, before thanking Melissa and scenting their brother once before leaving the infirmary.

“I meant you too Stiles.” Melissa said, arms crossed.

Stiles pouted “But I can help Melissa, come on? Pretty please?” he pleaded, doing his best to mimic Scott’s puppy eyes.

“I can handle this Stiles, seriously. You did good. You already helped him a lot.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Besides, your dad is outside waiting for you”. She removed her hand while Stiles stood there gaping at her.

“You told him? Why would you tell him? You know how he worries about people finding out about me. He’s going to be insufferable” At Melissa’s stern look he shrunk a bit. “He’s going to be so angry with me… I didn’t even try to stay hidden, I just flung my magic all over the place” He finished, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

“And Derek is alive and well because of that. Stiles, I don’t think he’ll be as mad as you think”. With those words Melissa turned back to Derek in a clear dismissal. Stiles sighed and started moving towards the hallway where his father was waiting.

Stiles knew that his dad wouldn’t be all that angry with him, but he still felt like he had let him down somehow. If too many people found out about him, they might have to move, and Stiles would have been to blame for his dad losing his job as well as their home. Objectively, Stiles understood why it could be dangerous if people found out that he had practically unlimited power, as he couldn’t be bound to a place or a family like most other elves.

When Stiles had been younger he had been so sure that it wouldn’t matter if people found out about him. He was basically the same as any free elf. Granted there weren’t many of those, as most choose to bind themselves to places such as Hogwarts, so that they were still able to use their magic to help people, but a few elves choose to be truly free. At the time, Stiles hadn’t been able to see how he was any different than them. He still couldn’t really, but after having been gifted a couple of books on the history of the wizarding community, he realized that maybe he wouldn’t necessarily be welcomed with open arms. He had been specifically horrified after reading the chapter on werewolf history and prejudice.

As soon as he pushed open the heavy infirmary doors his dad came walking straight for him with a worried expression on his face. “Are you okay? What happened?” were the first words out of his mouth, and Stiles relaxed into the arms that his father wrapped tightly around him. His dad gave the best hugs.

Stiles pulled away a bit “I’m fine, I’m fine” At his dads skeptical look he brought his hands up before raking one of them through his tousled hair. “Seriously! I’m totally and completely fine.”

When Stiles didn’t add anything else, his dad made a gesture clearly stating ‘well get on with it’.

“But, I may have outed myself to the three new students at school” He was unable to decipher the meaning of the look his dad threw him, so he hastily continued, spewing words out as quickly as ever. “And how could you not tell me that they’re werewolves! I mean come on, they’re werewolves. How could you not share that information with me? You’re kinda the only source of reliable information I have here. Scott’s obsessed with Kira, like creepily so. Not as creepily as when it was Allison, but it’s still up there. And! And Lydia has just gotten back together with Douchemore, so it’s not like any of them had time to tell me that the new students were werewolves. I mean how cool is that! Not that they were ignoring me obviously, that part sucks, but the werewolves part. So awesome”.

“Wow, am I glad that you ended your rant like that, or I might just have had to hurt you for breaking my brother’s heart” A teasing voice interrupted.

Stiles jumped, as Laura came over to stand next to them. At Laura’s words his dad wordlessly raised an eyebrow in his son’s direction. Heat filled his cheeks once more as he murmured a small ‘shut up’.

“And don’t think I’m not suspicious about why you aren’t freaking out, like at all” Stiles said more loudly addressing his father.

His dad sighed and smiled a bit. “Stiles I’m just glad that you’re okay. I’m glad that the Hales are okay as well” He added with a sincere smile, which seemed to shock Laura to some extent. “And most importantly… you just won me 3 galleons” he finished with a laugh.

Both Stiles and Laura turned to him with their mouths hanging open. Stiles was pretty sure that he zoned out for quite some time because when he came to, his dad was mid-sentence.

“… and so Talia and I knew that eventually one of you would figure out the other’s secret. She told me that Laura, Cora or Derek would sniff you out and confront you well before you would ever notice that the new students were wolves. I told her that you’re a nosy little shit” he smiled fondly at that “And even though you couldn’t just go ask somebody, and would never be careless enough to be close enough to someone to overhear, you would figure it out before them. And I won”. Then he simply shrugged like he hadn’t just completely baffled Stiles. Laura just burst out laughing, and Stiles was only halfway sure that it was because of what his father had said, and not because of the gobsmacked expression on his face. It might have been a combination of the two.

“So now that your father has won his bet, and you clearly know what we are, do you mind telling us what you are? I can’t figure it out by smell; it’s so familiar, and yet you don’t match any creature I’ve ever encountered” Laura asked carefully, somehow aware that she was breaching a very sensitive topic.

For so long Stiles had dreamt of telling someone his secret. Even though he had Scott, Lydia and his dad it sometimes got lonely around the castle. They were all at class, and even when they weren’t people would ask questions when they disappeared with Stiles for too long. Now that he finally had the chance he froze, and the words that usually came easily all seemed to allude him.

“I… Um.” Stiles stood for a moment, before his father thankfully took over.

“Laura, why don’t you go find Cora and floo home. I’ll make sure that the headmistress knows that you’re allowed to travel back to your pack. Your mother can fill you in on the details after you’ve told her about Derek.”

Laura simply nodded, before tentatively reaching out and placing a hand on Stiles’ shoulder. She mouthed a quiet ‘thank you’ before she turned and left.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make that decision for you, but you just seemed a bit…” His dad trailed of.

“No, no, yeah. You were right” Stiles said “Sorry, it was all just a bit much all of a sudden. I know logically that if their mother doesn’t mind what I am, then why should they, right? And besides they’re werewolves; if anyone knows what it feels like to be prejudiced against it’s them… but I just got scared you know” Stiles finished shrugging his shoulders embarrassedly.

His father gave him yet another hug instead of answering, but to Stiles it was answer enough. Just as his father was letting go of him, Melissa pushed open the heavy doors. She looked a bit worse for wear, but they had just woken her up in the middle of the night so it wasn’t all that surprising. What was surprising however was that Stiles felt himself overcome with the need to ask about Derek, to make sure that he was okay.

“He’s going to be just fine” Melissa said “I’m assuming that his sisters left for home, to comfort their alpha? I’ve heard that it feels almost like losing a limb when a beta is injured this badly. We’ll no doubt have Hales swarming all over the castle before daybreak.” She sounded exhausted, but she had a fond smile on her face as she thought about the Hales.

“Oh, and Stiles? He was asking for you, or at least I think he was. He kept talking about the pretty elf” She laughed, pulling John along with her by the arm. He looked decisively unhappy to be dragged along in such a manner, but said nothing as Melissa continued to drag him down the hall. Soon enough, Stiles was left alone with only his blush to keep him company.


	7. The invasion of the Hales

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)  
> Here's another chapter. I hope you'll like it... I had some difficulty writing this, but I hope that it turned out okay.  
> Also, I don't have a beta and currently have a fever, so there might be some errors; sorry about that. Hopefully, there aren't any glaring obvious ones :) 
> 
> And to make up for this chapter being so long in the making, it is rather long :) I hope that's okay ;)

Stiles only debated for about a minute or two, before he pushed open the doors to the hospital wing, and silently slipped inside.

Derek was awake and looking in his direction, eyes flickering gold every other time he blinked. Derek had a blush on his face as well, most likely due to having heard everything Melissa had said. Stiles hated him just a little bit for how stupidly attractive he was while blushing. Stiles himself usually looked like a tomato.

“Hi” he said shyly, no idea why he was so affected by Derek’s presence. As Stiles let his eyes roam over his face he noticed that he was still rather pale, but he no longer looked like he was seconds away from death. Stiles had no idea how long he had been staring, but as soon as he became aware of it, he lowered his eyes. A small part of his mind was whispering that Derek had been staring as well, but the more reasonable part of him dismissed the thought. Why would Derek be staring at him anyways?

Derek didn’t offer a greeting in return, but he made a small movement with his eyebrows. Stiles chose to interpret it as a greeting.

“Melissa said that you’re feeling better?”

Derek cleared his throat before he spoke, once again shocking Stiles with the sound of his voice.

“I am”

When he didn’t say anything further, Stiles loudly huffed out a puff of air. “Seriously, that’s all you got? Not something along the lines of, nice to meet you or yes, I do feel very much better, thank you for asking. Or how about, thank you for saving me from certain death!?!”.

At this Derek also huffed, but he sounded amused rather than annoyed like Stiles. Stiles practically deflated when he looked over the bandages covering a large part of Derek’s leg. It looked like it hurt a lot, and Stiles, having been very clumsy in his early years, could sympathize with that sort of pain. He was no stranger to broken bones. That was of course before he had been taken. At the ‘house’ he had simply been able to fix any injury he sustained due to clumsiness. Injuries inflicted on him by the wizards however, he wasn’t allowed to magically mend. Stiles still wasn’t sure whether that rule had come into existence, due to a need for more lasting punishment, or if it was simply because they enjoyed watching the elves be at their mercy.

“Thank you” Derek finally said.

Stiles was tempted to crack a joke about how hard it must have been for Derek to say thank you, but as he took in the sincere expression on his face, the words lodged in his throat. He ended up nodding, foregoing speaking all together. The only reason he had snapped at all was because he was so incredibly nervous about the impending questions that were sure to soon rain down over him. Derek kept staring at him however, and Stiles became increasingly uncomfortable with the intense look directed his way.

“What do I have something on my face?” Stiles joked, very aware of why Derek was staring the way he was.

“Yeah actually you do. Wasn’t sure how to tell you” Derek said, and Stiles made a mortified sound, before he started frantically running his fingers over his face. When he didn’t find anything he slowed his movements, and cast a glance at the werewolf. Derek wasn’t smiling, but there was an unmistakable upturn to his mouth, and Stiles gaped at him.

“You made a joke! I didn’t think you were capable of that.” Stiles said, confused as to whether he should feel annoyed or awed that Derek had actually felt comfortable enough to make a joke.

“Stiles” Derek said, a heaviness in his voice that made Stiles wince. He knew that he was avoiding the elephant in the room. He sighed again. It might be best to simply do it like a Band-Aid. And so Stiles told Derek everything. How the sorting hat refused to sort him into a house, due to the fact that it can only see into the minds of wizards and occasionally muggles, but never those of magical creatures. How Stiles had to be kept a secret, so that he wouldn’t be ostracized from the wizarding community, and to be kept safe from any of Argent’s minions. How every time, he met Olivander he insisted on trying out wands for Stiles, even though a wand had never, and most likely would never choose him. How he spent most of his time in the kitchen or in the forbidden forest. How he spent his summers tending to the magical animals that lived within Hogwarts’ grounds. He had glossed over the kidnapping and his time with his masters, glad when Derek seemed to understand his reluctance to drag up unhappy memories.

Derek listened carefully the entire time, never interrupting, but Stiles could see that he was reacting to everything being said. His eyebrows showed his thoughts on whatever Stiles was telling him. Derek’s entire body had stiffened at the word Argent and Stiles knew, like most others, what kind of opinion Argents had on werewolves.

When Stiles finally stopped talking his voice was slightly hoarse. He chose to say that it was entirely due to the strain on his voice and had nothing to do with the emotions he had been forced to dredge up once more.

“So yeah, I think that’s everything” Stiles mumbled, shyly. He had just told his entire life story to someone who was practically a stranger. The only problem was that Derek had stopped feeling like a stranger already after their first meeting in the Gryffindor common room. Silence reigned for a couple of uncomfortable minutes, before Derek softly said “Thanks for telling me”. Stiles offered him a weak smile in return.

Derek started speaking again, clearly struggling with his words. “When I was sixteen I met Kate Argent. She convinced me that she didn’t share he family’s views on my kind. She was older, but also funny and kind. She was beautiful.” Derek swallowed thickly, and Stiles had a dawning realization concerning what Derek was about to say.

He placed his hand carefully, and slowly, on Derek’s arm. He was warm to the touch. “Derek…” he paused briefly “You don’t have to tell me. Just because I… you don’t have to" Derek nodded. “I know, but I want to. I need to.”

“A year before I met Kate, I had just lost my girlfriend. Her name was Paige. She was a muggle, which I at the time thought was amazing. She knew all this great stuff, and she didn’t know that I was a werewolf, so she didn’t have any prejudices. My uncle was convinced that it was too dangerous for her to be involved with me, so he… arranged for an alpha to bite her…”

“It didn’t take” Stiles said, voice soft.

“No it didn’t” Derek said, voice just as soft. “I was with her, when she was bitten. The alpha was so strong, there was nothing I could do. He found her at her muggle school, and we ran into the woods hoping that he would leave the rest of the kids alone. She was in so much pain, and she begged me to end it. She pleaded, and I knew she was going to die, but… it was still so difficult. The last thing that she said to me was that she had known about me all along. In the end I ended it for her. She died in my arms”.

There was a heavy silence, where Stiles didn’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t seem like it was enough.

“When I met Kate I was still heartbroken, but she convinced me to trust her. She was so understanding about Paige. I thought I loved her. I let her into my life and into my family’s house.”

“The fire” Stiles breathed. Practically everyone in the wizarding community knew about the Hale fire. Luckily, none of the Hales had died. A few had sustained remaining burns, but other than their house there had been no casualties. Stiles’ father had been consulted on the case even though he was no longer an auror. “You know, Kate was my owner” Stiles said, trying to be flippant but unable to keep the emotion out of his voice.

Derek’s eyes widened at this. “My dad was so furious that we weren’t able to find her after what she did to me. He would have kept looking for her, if not for my friend’s mother, who was able to convince him that I needed him more than the aurors assigned to the case. When we finally heard that she ended up in Azkaban, we didn’t even really pay attention to why that was. I’m sorry”.

Once again there was a silence, but this time it wasn’t awkward. Stiles felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The last people he had told had been Talia Hale and Melissa back when he was still an elf. His father and Scott had been told by Melissa, and Lydia had figured it all out on her own. It was actually kind of eerie how many details Lydia had found out.

Soon after Melissa came back into the room, and bustled around for a bit. She wasn’t paying them any attention, but Stiles still felt like it was somehow his cue to leave. A bit shyly he removed his hand from where it was still resting on Derek’s arm. Melissa seemed to be able to sense that she wouldn’t be interrupting something, and came over to check on Derek’s wounds.

“How are you feeling Derek?” she asked.

“Fine” Derek said, seemingly not noticing Melissa’s smile at his gruff answer.

“You should be all healed up in a couple of days. You got lucky, that Stiles was able to get you out of there so quickly. The poison managed to spread through most of your body, so that’s why it’s gonna be a couple of days. I know that you aren’t used to this kind of slow healing, but it’s important that you stay in bed.” She said sternly, as Derek nodded his assent. “So even though you might want to in a minute or two no getting out of bed and fleeing okay?” She laughed at the confused expressions on both Derek’s and Stiles’ faces.

Not even a second later the doors to the hospital wing were blown open, and a horde of beautiful raven-haired people came practically running into the room. Stiles quickly moved to the side, so that he was standing a way away with Melissa as Derek’s family surrounded the hospital bed. And Stiles was sure that they must be the Hale family. There were so many similarities between all of them.

He and Melissa slowly inched out of the room, letting them take care of Derek.

***

Derek was shocked to see his entire family spilling in through the doors. He hadn’t even smelled or heard them, too enraptured with Stiles’ scent and the sound of his heartbeat. It confused and scared him how big of an influence Stiles had on him. For now, he could pretend that his senses were affected by the attack as well.

Now he understood why Melissa had laughed the way she did, when she told him that he wasn’t allowed out of bed. The Hales descended on him like the wolves they were. They ran their hands over his wounds and scent marked him all at once instead of taking turns. They were talking a mile a minutes crowding his bed. He sighed, as he knew that there was no way his family would leave him before they were sure that he was better.

Even with the calming scent of his pack all around him, he still noticed when Stiles left the room. It made him feel like part of his pack wasn’t there, which just scared him all the more. Even though Stiles hadn't gone into a lot of details, Derek had still gotten the gist of his time as an elf, of how horrible it had been, and it only served to make him feel closer to the other boy. 

His mother must have been able to feel his inner turmoil, as she too looked to where Stiles was in the process of sneaking out of the room. He could see the way her eyes softened as she looked at the other boy, and after what Stiles had told him he understood why she looked at him like that. Like she was proud.

Most of his family were too busy talking all at once to notice, that Derek wasn’t really listening. Then again, it was possible that what they were saying only needed to be said and not heard. Derek could live without listening to his aunt repeating ‘how could this happen’ over and over again.

Things finally calmed down after about half an hour, and Derek was grateful for it. The poison was still working its way out of his system, so he felt slightly sluggish and tired. “We should probably get out of your hair, huh Derek?” his mother finally remarked after he had failed to keep his eyes open for the third time. The others laughed a bit at that, a soft laugh that only seemed to push him further into sleep’s embrace.

“Are you going to floo home? I’m sure the you can use one of the teachers’ fireplaces” Derek mumbled.

There were some more giggles. “Oh sweetie, you really must be tired if you think that we’re flooing home any time soon”. The words seemed to blur together at the end, and Derek was asleep before his mother had even finished speaking.

***

Derek woke up the next morning feeling better, but sore. The skin on his thigh had healed completely, but there was still a sort of phantom pain accompanying every movement. Slowly he moved to sit in the hospital bed, swinging his legs over one side of the bed, so that he could rest his feet on the cold floor.

His memory was slightly hazy, but Melissa had warned him that that might be a side-effect of the potion she had given him to purge the poison from his system. Even though his brain seemed to be working at half-power he still remembered everything Stiles had told him. It seemed as if it was seared into his brain, and he couldn’t stop thinking about what he had been told. Derek felt like it made perfect sense, but at the same time made no sense at all. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

Finally, the cold floor became too much for his feet and he made to move fully back unto the bed, when he noticed something placed on the bed side table. A cup of hot chocolate was steaming beside him. The mug was one of the ones from the Hogwarts kitchen, so Derek had a sneaking suspicion as to who might have left it for him. He couldn’t fight the smile that broke out on his face at the thought of Stiles leaving this for him, much like he had done the first time they met. It tasted like heaven, and he had quickly emptied the entire mug. It left him feeling warm and more clear headed that he had been before.

Slowly he rose from the bed, testing his left leg in case it wasn’t fully healed. However, he quickly found that it supported his weight as easily as ever. Just as he was about to look for his clothes, Melissa came out of the office adjoined to the hospital wing.

At first, Derek was certain that she was going to shoo him right back onto the bed, telling him that he was on bedrest, but she did neither. Instead she smiled and informed him that his clothes were beneath his bed and that he could change behind one of the nearby screens.

He nodded at her, offering a quiet ‘thank you’. Changing took less than two minutes, but it was incredible how nice it was to finally wear his robes once again. They had quickly become as familiar to him as his fur.

“Can I go to class?” Derek asked, once Melissa entered the room once more.

“Sure” Melissa said with a shrug. “You should be fine by now, but if you start to feel lightheaded or anything, I want to see you back in this hospital wing faster than you can apparate here.” She said with a small smile.

Derek took his chance and practically ran out of the room before she could change her mind. The hallways were devoid of students, for which Derek has extremely glad. He thought that he was completely alone, which was why it was such a big shock when someone pointedly cleared their throat from right behind him.

He growled and turned around, ready to sink either claws or fangs into whoever had managed to sneak up on him. He quickly schooled his expression into a more civil one, when he saw Lydia Martin standing in the otherwise deserted hallway.

Scent and heartbeat were nowhere to be found, and Derek could feel himself get more unnerved the longer the silence dragged on. She must have been able to read his reserved expression, because she smiled at him, though not in reassurance, but more as in ‘I know something you don’t. Strangely it was exactly that that finally allowed him to relax a bit. “Shouldn’t you be in class” He said, not bothering to make it sound like a question. He knew perfectly well that she should be in class, but he hadn’t been able to think of anything else to say. Laura always did say that he had the social tact of a brick wall.

“Please” Lydia scoffed “I still am. The class is utterly pointless, so I’ve been using it to practice astral projection. They don’t even know that I’m not entirely there.” Derek merely arched his eyebrows in response. Astral projection was difficult to master, but he had a feeling that if he in any way found a way to congratulate Lydia on her achievement she would take it the wrong way.

Lydia smirked in response, before her face closed off completely. “If you hurt him in any way, or play any part in someone finding out about him, I will personally skin you. Now, I’m not much for threats, but you can take that one seriously. If you’ll have me excused, I have to go correct the new professor”. With that she flickered out of existence.

Normally, such a simple threat wouldn’t even make Derek blink twice, but there had been something in the way Lydia had said it, that made Derek believe that she was completely capable of skinning him if she so desired. He didn’t have a heartbeat to go from, but her voice hadn’t wavered in the slightest. There was also the fact that he instantly knew what she was talking about. He had known logically that her and Stiles were friends since he confronted her in the great hall, but hadn't really given it any thought since then. Even for someone surrounded by as many powerful or scary women as Derek Hale, Lydia seemed to be a force to be reckoned with. He decided it was probably best if he didn’t do anything to step on her toes. Not that he in any way intended to hurt Stiles. The other boy meant too much to him already. 

Slowly he started to make his way towards the Gryffindor common room to collect the necessary books for his next class. Somewhat distractedly he wondered what kind of lie they had told his fellow students, in an effort to keep Stiles safe. They must have noticed that he hadn’t come back after the full moon. Maybe they thought that that was how long the moon had an effect on them? It was entirely possible. Only very few wizards were that immersed in werewolf lore. For once Derek was glad of that fact.

Finding the books proved to be easy, as they were all laying neatly on his bedside table. There was also a note from Laura saying that now he owed her something from Honeydukes. A fond smile found its way onto his face, and he quickly grabbed the books.

On his way towards class however, he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. From one of the windows he had a prefect line of sight into one of the clearings surrounding the castle. In the middle of the small clearing he recognized his family’s tent. The last time he had seen it had been back when they had somehow gotten tickets to one of the big quidditch matches.

It was a small regular looking grey tent, and the only reason that Derek was sure that it was theirs was the Hale triskelion depicted on the side. That, and all the claw marks that had been stitched back together instead of magically mended. It was a family tradition.

Clutching the books under his arm he ran down the rest of the stairs, through the hallways and outside into the clearing. He didn’t bother with knocking when he reached the tent. Not that there was really anything to properly knock on anyway. He made his way inside, taking a second to readjust his senses to the tent’s inside, which appeared much bigger than the outside.

Some of his cousins were lounging in one of the many sofas, not paying him any attention as he stomped through the tent’s many rooms. Finally, he found his mother in deep conversation with another wizard that Derek didn’t know.

“John, will you excuse me for a moment? I think my son wants to have a word with me”

The man nodded, but gave Derek a thorough and searching look before he left the tent. Derek didn’t have it in him to be weirded out, too annoyed with his mother to pay attention to anything else.

“What are guys still doing here?”

“Derek sweetie, we told you that we weren’t leaving before you were better” Talia reminded him, humor in her voice.

“I am better. I was even allowed to attend class again” Derek said. It wasn’t that he actually minded that his mother was at the school as it was that he didn’t want any of the other students to freak out. They had all just started to accept Erica, Boyd and Isaac as well as Derek and his sisters. The other students weren’t friendly by any stretch of the word, but they weren’t outright hostile either. Adding a tent filled to the brim with werewolves might upset the balance that they had finally reached. If some altercation was to arise Derek was almost certain that it would be the wolves who were expelled, even if they hadn’t done anything. There was only so much a werewolf-friendly headmaster could do against an army of frightened wizard parents.

“A class that you are missing right now” Talia reminded him, steering his thoughts back to their conversation. “And besides, we aren’t here only because of you. I know how fragile the relationship between you and the other students are. The man that was just here. That was John Stilinski, Stiles’ father. He used to be an auror, and he wanted to ask us to stay here in case we are able to help with the investigation, with finding whatever creature did that to you. We all have a common interest in keeping this as far away from the ministry and the newspaper as possible.”

“I…” Derek started only to be interrupted by his mother.

“Derek, please. I feel like I should have protected you. Logically, I know that there was nothing that I could have done, but I still feel like I’m somehow responsible for this. Lord knows what would have happened if Stiles hadn’t…” She didn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t have to. Derek knew what she meant. He had come uncomfortably close to being some creature’s dinner.

“Okay” Derek whispered, hugging his mother tight when she beckoned him closer. She scented him for a while, and Derek allowed it, secretly feeling pleased with the attention. “Now get to class young man” his mother said with a smile, which Derek gladly returned. He had missed his pack while being away even though half of them were at the castle with him.

He picked up his books and left the tent, noticing that his cousins didn’t look up from their places in the ‘living room’. Wind blew through his hair as he exited the tent, and the dark grey sky was looming over the castle, foreboding in a way that made Derek’ heartbeat pick up its pace.

He had a feeling that the other shoe was about to drop.


End file.
